When people were down on Hammel earlier this season I went out of my way to defend him as a well above average 4th/5th starter, with a chance to jump into that 3 spot. I'm not patting myself on the back for that, because even though I truly believed that and I was right, I never envisioned him going on a run like this.

If not for Jimenez doing what he's done just this season, Jason Hammel would currently be on the greatest roll for a Rockies starter ever. Seriously. 25 1/3 scoreless innings. With a big hat tip to Rafael Betancourt tonight for keeping that intact tonight.

A lot of people outside Colorado attributed his success post DL stint to an easy schedule. Well, he's now done it against two of the league's best offenses (Toronto and Milwaukee), and he's done it at Coors Field.

Jason Hammel has turned the corner. No way around it.

The Offense

Has not turned the corner. We just have to be thankful they scratched out what they did tonight and that it was enough.

By the way, Jason Hammel executed a perfect suicide squeeze and laced a double off Manny Parra. When your starting pitcher takes complete ownership of a baseball game like he did tonight, he better not pay for dinner out of his own pocket for the next 4 days. The offense has some paying up to do.

Shutout Record

The Rockies recorded a single-season franchise record 9th shutout tonight. They have 95 chances to make that double digits. I'll take those odds.

Tomorrow

I want to see Chris Nelson. I'm not really dying to see him or anything, I just think I have a decent read on what Jonathan Herrera offers, and I'd like to see if Nelson can offer more. Herrera is the definition of serviceable, which could work well if the rest of the offense was at least partially clicking. In this offense, it doesn't work. The Rockies need to make sure they maximize every little thing they can.